426 
On Drainiiif/. 
which is tiie most permanent and effectual is best both for land- 
lord and tenant, although the expense is greater. 
On entering the field to be drained, to obtain anything like 
good drainage, it is necessary, in the first instance, to lay down a 
plan of operation. The course of the main drain or drains is first 
to be determined, and marked by drawing a furrow with a plough, 
or by a number of stakes, being careful that there is sufficient 
fall, and that the small drains have not to run more than from 
8 to 10 chains; and in laying down the course of the small drains, 
if the lands are all of a regular and proper width, there is a slight 
saving of expense to take the course of the old furrows ; but where 
this is not the case, or if the old lands vary in their width, the 
better plan is to commence on one side of the field, and, without 
reference to furrows or ridges, lay out the drains (fall permitting) 
parallel with each other, as shown in fig. 1 , observing, where there 
are forest-trees, not to approach nearer than 15 feet with the 
drains. Having proceeded thus far, the ground in the intended 
course of the main and small drains should be opened by 
ploughing two or three rounds for each drain ; then take uj) a mole- 
furrow, so that the depth will be 10 inches from the surface, and 
a width of 9 inches for the drainer at the bottom of the furrow. 
Tlie whole field being ploughed in this manner, proceed to cut 
throuffh the hills to obtain a uniform inclination or fall of all the 
drains. After which I recommend, where the land is undulating, 
that the drains should remain in this manner for a few days, to 
see by the rill of water down them if the fall is regular, before 
the further operation of cutting the drains to the intended depth 
is proceeded with.* Whether the drains ai'e laid shallow or deep, 
opening the ground in the line of the drains, and cutting through 
the hills to obtain a regular and uniform fall, is of the first im- 
portance ; for, if attention is not paid to this most necessary part of 
the operation in draining land, the water will stand in some parts 
of the drain 2 or 3 inches deep, while in other parts they are dry ; 
and the water lying therein, rising by capillary attraction towarils 
the surface, and exjianding the subsoil, checks the free percola- 
tion of the water to the conduit. When men are sent into a field 
for the purpose of draining it, and proceed at once to cut the 
drains and lay in the materials, it is impossible on some lands, 
however careful they may be, that the drains can have a uniform 
* A friend of mine who is a very experienced drainer, and very par- 
ticular in obtaining a uniform and regular fall for his drains, adopts the 
following; plan : — He makes a small dam near the upper end of the drain, 
and, if the weather is dry, pours three or four pails of water above the 
dam ; then suddenly removing; the same, the water flowing down shows if 
there is any defect m the level. 
